Chase Sapphire Preferred Visa Card

Having now brought everyone up to speed on my credit card strategy for this year, I wanted to start going through the different cards I use in more detail.  First up is one of the more straightforward cards that offers an excellent value to most anyone who travels at least occasionally.  The card is the Chase Sapphire Preferred (CSP), which is one of the cards credited with setting the standard by which other travel credit cards are judged now. 

I provide the information here just to give readers a vague idea if the rewards offered by the card might make sense for them to consider the card.  All information should be confirmed with the card company before applying.

Welcome Offer

The CSP currently has a welcome offer of 60 000 bonus points after spending $4 000 in 3 months.  Previously, welcome offers as high as 100 000 bonus points have been offered with the same spend requirement.  When I got mine last year, I managed to get the 100 000 bonus point offer.  60 000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points are worth a minimum of $600 when redeemed as a statement credit for general expenses, or $750 toward travel when using Chase Ultimate Rewards’ travel portal. 

Earnings

In broad terms, the CSP earns 3x points/$ on dining, 2x points/$ on travel, and 1x point/$ on general spending.  The card also earns 5x points/$ on travel booked through the Chase Ultimate Rewards portal (which functions like an online travel agency), 3x points on online grocery purchases, and select streaming services.

Select streaming services include: Apple Music, Apple TV, Disney+, ESPN+, Fubo TV, HBO Max, Hulu, Netflix, Pandora, Paramount+, Peacock, Showtime, SiriusXM, Sling, Spotify, YouTube Premium, YouTube TV and Vudu, which is substantially more extensive than for the Amex Platinum. 

In addition, the CSP earns a bonus 10% points on the account anniversary, based on the total spend.  This means that the effective broadly defined earn rates are 3.1x, 2.1x, and 1.1x, for example, but the account has to be kept open.

Benefits

The two main benefits of this card are: (1) the ability to redeem points at 1.25 ¢/point towards travel through the Chase Ultimate Rewards Portal, and (2) a $50 statement credit for hotel stays purchased through the Portal.

How to use the points

The simplest way to use Ultimate Rewards Points is to redeem them for a statement credit at a rate of 1 pt = 1¢ for any purchase.  However, the major benefit of this card is that these points can be redeemed at a rate of 1 pt = 1.25¢ towards travel through the Chase Portal.  Realistically, this is the minimum value points from this card should be redeemed for.  Redeeming the points this way has the big plus of the tickets counting as revenue tickets for the purpose of earning redeemable and tier qualifying points on the airline. A mere 7,600 points/year are needed to offset the $95 when redeemed for travel at 1.25¢/point, which means the 60 000 point bonus offsets at least 7 years of the annual fee.

A more advanced technique is to transfer the Chase points to one of the transfer partners (e.g. British Airways or United), which can unlock more value out of the points.  Based on how I’ve redeemed transferrable points in the past, I peg the value of Chase points at around 1.5¢/pt on average when used to book award travel (which doesn’t earn tier qualifying points).

Examples of using the card

Spend per month

	Example	A	Example	B	Example	C	Example	D
	Spend	Points	Spend	Points	Spend	Points	Spend	Points
Groceries (1x)	$300	300	$200	200	$600	600	$400	400
Gas (1x)	$0	0	$100	100	$200	200	$100	100
Airfare (2x)	$700	1 400	$200	400	$0	0	$400	800
Hotels (2x)	$1 000	2 000	$200	400	$0	0	$300	600
Gen Travel (2x)	$400	800	$0	0	$300	600	$100	200
Dining (3x)	$600	1 800	$300	900	$300	900	$0	0
General (1x)	$1 000	1 000	$500	500	$500	500	$400	400
Total	$4 000	7 300	$1 500	2 500	$1 700	2 800	$1 700	2 500
Average points/$		1.83		1.67		1.65		1.47

The CSP’s broad travel category and solid earnings on dining means that the average points earned is around 1.5 – 1.8 points/$, which is worth 2.25 – 2.7 ¢/$, with the valuation of 1.5¢/point for Chase Ultimate Rewards points.

Specific examples

Card	World Traveller ($750)  (% return)	Marriott Hotel night ($230/night)	Points values (WT/Hotel)
No rewards card	2 728 (4.9%)	2 200 MP (7.3%)	$37.10 / $17.60
General 1% cashback card	2 728 + $7.50 (5.9%)	2 200 MP + $2.30 (8.3%)	$44.60 / $19.90
Chase Sapphire Preferred	2 728 Avios + 1 500 UR (7.9%)	2 200 MP + 460 UR (10.3%)	$59.60 / $24.50
UK Marriott Amex card	2 728 Avios + 1 112 MP (6.1%)	3 506 MP (11.5%)	$46.18 / $28.61

Is this credit card right for you?

This card is great for anyone who spends substantial amounts on travel and dining, who values travel rewards, and who doesn’t mind doing a bit of work and research to optimize their redemptions.  The option to redeem Chase Ultimate Rewards points for 1.25 ¢/point toward travel is arguably the biggest plus of this card.  Airline tickets purchased by redeeming points in this manner earn elite status and redeemable miles, which is great for earning status and earning additional points (but in a non-flexible currency).